​Book DescriptionPaul Bloom knows that many people will read this book out of anger, with the intention and hope of refuting the argument that empathy is bad for the world. I did. I wanted to find fault with the reasoning that placing ourselves in the shoes of someone else was somehow a danger to both ourselves and others. While Bloom has not convinced me that empathetic behaviors cause more harm than good, I can acknowledge that sometimes his argument is strong. He concedes that not all empathy is negative, but rather argues that on the whole, it is not beneficial. He opens with an example of an adorable young girl who needs a kidney transplant. Once we get to know this girl and understand that she will likely die without the transplant, we often demonstrate empathy by imagining what it might feel like if this was happening in our own family. When given the opportunity to move this girl up the list of those waiting for the transplant, we may jump at the opportunity to save her and her family from their continued suffering. Bloom argues that this would be a case of empathy leading to injustice. The feelings of empathy for this young girl have prioritized her life over the lives of others also waiting for a kidney who were rightfully in line ahead of the girl with whom we empathize.

Bloom argues that one of the reasons most people are so deeply in favor of the concept of empathy is that is has been associated with many concepts such as compassion, sympathy, and kindness which are related to but not actually empathy. Bloom makes it clear that he is in favor of kindness and compassion. He believes that empathy causes us to make decisions that seem kind and compassionate but that can actually hurt more people than help. He argues that empathy is like cholesterol and has both good and bad types. The first, cognitive empathy is the type of empathy in which a person can understand another person`s suffering but does not feel what they feel. We can feel compassion or sympathy without feeling what the person themselves feel, Bloom argues that this is often the case when we help others. If a child falls from a high jungle gym and breaks his nose, we will immediately try to help, but it is unreasonable to argue that we feel what he/she feels. Similarly, we can buy a gift that we think someone else will enjoy, without necessarily liking it ourselves; this is kindness but not empathy. These concepts are often presented as interchangeable and interwoven, but Bloom argues that can exist as distinct entities.

The second type of empathy is emotional empathy; this occurs when we feel the pain of others, this is the emphasis of the book and the type of empathy that Bloom believes can blur the lines of morality, balanced reasoning and fairness and that which he argues against. Bloom argues that empathy can be learned and socialized and is often employed to encourage people to “do the right thing.” Children are often scolded by asking, “How would you like it if someone did that to you?” Bloom argues that there needs to be more to morality than empathy and that in fact, they are distinct because they need not occur simultaneously. If you see someone throw garbage out of his or her car window, this may upset you morally, but there is no empathetic element, you do not feel what the person does or for that matter what the garbage feels.

Bloom uses the very emotionally sensitive topic of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Newtown Connecticut as an example of how empathy can result in an unseen negative outcome. While it is impossible to overestimate the tragedy that occurred in Newtown, More children were killed in the city of Chicago in a single year than those killed in Newtown. However, the vividness of hearing the news of the Newtown victims and the painful emotions associated with this single event, makes the Newtown shootings stand out in our minds. While the Chicago shootings may be covered daily in the paper they are not a single event, but rather multiple less salient events that are easier to forget. This availability heuristic created an outpouring of emotional empathy and gifts flooded into Newtown from all over the country. Unfortunately, the gifts far exceeded what could be distributed in Newton a relatively affluent community, but many volunteers were needed to help store the gifts and toys even after Newtown officials asked that nothing else be sent. Bloom argues that this money could have been better spent saving lives by buying mosquito netting for children in Sudan and providing clean drinking water for those who have no access or meals to the elderly who do not have enough food. In this way, people would be saving lives, but instead, their emotional empathy created a glut of teddy bears in a community that needed emotional support, but not tangible items and diverted resources from other potentially deadly situations.

Bloom argues that this and other similar examples demonstrate that compassion is biased and often results in a cost-benefit net loss. Therapists who are too empathetic with their client’s problems face burn out and need to learn how to help their clients through the healing process without taking on the pain and suffering of their clients at the same time. Bloom provides an example of a worker at the 9-11 sight looking for bodies when it was clear that they would find no more survivors, this person needed to try to dial back their empathy as they would otherwise have become overwhelmed and unable to help in the recovery efforts. Surgeons may also need to practice this skill as too much empathy may inhibit their ability to do their job well. The key here may to be employ understanding and caring rather than empathy.

Empathy can also be counterintuitive; when we perceive that individuals play a role for creating a negative situation in their own life, we are likely to employ the just world phenomenon and demonstrate very little empathy even if it would be the kind and moral thing to do. For example, if you found that someone was infected through HIV because they were an intravenous drug user who had used and infected needle, we might be likely to say that “it was their own fault.” Psychopaths are often said to lack empathy, but Bloom argues that criminal psychopaths have normal empathetic abilities, but they can dial it up to ingratiate themselves with people and then turn it down if they violate trust or engage in a criminal activity that may result in hurting others. Those with autism, unlike the criminal psychopaths, have little ability to empathize but do not have questionable moral behavior. Demonstrating Bloom`s argument that empathy and morality and not inevitable linked to one another.

Bloom also discusses that the development of an in-group to whom we are likely to empathize and find similarities often creates and out-group may lead to stereotyping, dehumanization and unfair negative attributes. While we can empathize with the victim of a crime or a family member who is suffering, Bloom argues that there are limits in empathy. For example, if you heard that 30 people were killed in a flood in Indonesia, you would likely feel badly and perhaps empathize with the families of those killed or injured. However, if you heard that 3000 people were killed in the flooding, would you feel 300 times worse? We might go to herculean efforts to remove child trapped in a well, but do very little to try and change the climate which may over time results in the deaths of thousands more people. Bloom uses quotes by both Stalin and Mother Teresa to demonstrate this point. Stalin said, “One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic. Mother Teresa, “If I look at the mass, I will never act, if I look at the one, I will. Both understood the limits of empathy, but one in demonstrating Bloom`s thesis, the morality of this understanding is neutral, empathy need not only be used for good. Bloom does recognize that some good can come out of empathy and organizations such as effective Altruism advocate doing good deeds that combines the efforts of the head and the heart.

Other Related ResourcesThe Atlantic: Short video of psychologist Paul Bloom making the argument that empathy is a bad thinghttps://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/474588/why-empathy-is-a-bad-thing/. Bloom maintains that he is against empathy but for compassion. He poses that empathy should not override rational deliberation; it should be a reliable servant-but never a master.

Book DescriptionAfter watching a fantastic 60 minutes episode focusing on research being conducted at Yale University on morality in babies, I was drawn to this book written by one of the psychologists featured in the video clip. The 60 minutes story is based on work currently underway at the Yale University Infant Cognition Center. A link to this information is included in the related resources section at the end of the post. The author of Just Babies, Paul Bloom is the husband of Dr. Karen Wynn, the director of the lab and the primary investigator at the center. Bloom also does work on pleasure, morality, and prejudice. In this book, Bloom examines the question of whether or not morality is the result of nature or nurture. His studies and the other research included in the book indicate that to some degree morality is not developed entirely by experience with the environment but that a significant part of morality is innate and the result of evolutionary processes. According to research referenced by Bloom, even very young babies demonstrate an innate morality based on compassion, fairness, and empathy. Although limited, evidence shows that babies have a rudimentary capacity for morality.

The book Just Babies, explains in detail much of the research conducted at Yale and describes a variety of experiments to explore morality in children. One study, in particular, features one-year-old babies (and even younger) watching puppet shows featuring nice puppets who demonstrate sharing and helping behaviors and naughty puppets who demonstrate stealing and aggressive behaviors. When shown the nice and naughty puppets after the show, babies in significant numbers “choose” the nice puppet either by reaching for it or by the length of their gaze (very young babies who do not have the motor control to reach). Children in the studies demonstrated preference by how long they looked at the preferred puppet. When given a chance to reward or punish the puppets the children were likely to take treats away from the “bad” puppets and give the treats to the “nice” puppets.

The results from the various puppet studies and other innovative research indicate that while babies do have the basis of morality and prefer those who help others, they are also likely to favor those with whom they share traits. Even seemingly arbitrary preferences impacted the moral decisions of the babies in the study. Babies who were asked to choose a snack (graham crackers or cheerios) were more likely to favor puppets who liked the same snack and were more likely to punish puppets who liked a different snack.

The book provides numerous examples of how psychologists study morality in children using games and dilemmas created by behavioral economists. By having children of various ages participate in public goods and commoner’s dilemma games with varying situational factors, psychologists can study the development of concepts such as fairness, equality, empathy, responsibility, in-group favoritism, prejudice, punishment, and altruism in children some of whom are too young to communicate verbally.

In addition to a review of the history of the impact of human compassion and empathy, Bloom also discusses the human tendencies of selfishness and aggression and the potential evolutionary purposes of antisocial behaviors such as racial bias. The book also goes into detail about several classic psychological studies including the Milgram obedience study, the Clark doll study, Tajfel’s Kandinsky/Klee study, and Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment that are related to the introductory psychology curriculum. Bloom provides some unique insights into these studies and how they relate to research on morality and moral development in babies with regards to both nature and nurture. Numerous unique aspects of the studies many may not be familiar with are revealed in the book. For example, in the Robbers Cave study, Sherif found even very trivial differences could create in-group bias. The two groups of campers (Rattlers and Eagles) created differences in communication. The Rattlers swore, but the Eagles emphasized their use of clean language. Sherif claims that these differences exaggerated the preference for one`s group over the others. The Robber’s Cave experiment illustrated how easy it is for individuals to identify with others with whom they are grouped regardless of how arbitrarily and to view members of their group as superior. According to Bloom, research with very young children shows that humans start out with the tendency to distinguish between groups, but “it is our environments that tell us precisely how to do so.” Children can categorize people by the color of their skin, but very small children do not show any bias in skin color when selecting friends. Environmental factors create prejudices out of a natural tendency to separate individuals into similar groups to better navigate the world around us. Bloom also discusses the Clark doll study and makes connections to his current research on the origin and development of ethnic and racial prejudices.

Paul Bloom’s book, Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil does an excellent job of explaining how developmental psychologists study moral development in babies and children by connecting classic studies with innovative current research. The book adds new insights and details from classic studies that can be used to expand student interest and understanding of a variety of topics in developmental, cognitive, biological, and social psychology. This can help instructors and students make connections with units beyond developmental and cognitive psychology such as motivation and emotion and intelligence and testing.

Other Related Resources

Born good? Babies help unlock the origins of morality In this 60 Minutes video of research at the Yale University Infant Cognition Center – Video of the amazing research conducted by Yale University on how infants understand good and evil as well as examples of research on morality in older children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRvVFW85IcU

2017 Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize - Video interview with psychologist Paul Bloom and his wife and research partner Karen Wynn. The 2017 Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize is awarded to Paul Bloom for his research into the origins, nature, and development of children's moral thought and behavior.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdf_xOTcnWI

Yale Infant Cognition LabPsychologist Karen Wynn runs the Yale Infant Cognition “Baby Lab” which is researching the developmental foundations of morality, the origin of prejudice, and early emotional cognition. The lab also is studying adult (especially parents’) naïve theories of the minds of infants, and how adults’ intuitive conceptions of who babies are shape their’ interactions with infants. https://campuspress.yale.edu/infantlab/

Author Paul Bloom’s TED Talk on the origins of pleasure, which has almost 2 million views. The talk addresses questions such as why do we like an original painting better than a forgery? Psychologist Paul Bloom argues that human beings are essentialists - that our beliefs about the history of an object can change how we experience it, not simply as an illusion, but as a deep feature of what pleasure (and pain) is.https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_bloom_the_origins_of_pleasure

Author Paul Bloom’s TED Talk on if prejudice can ever be a good thing. According to Bloom we often think of bias and prejudice as rooted in ignorance, but Bloom seeks to show, prejudice can often be natural, rational, or even moral. The key, says Bloom, is to understand how our own biases work -- so we can take control when they go wrong. This talk references Henri Tajfel’s research on stereotypes. The talk covers a large range of studies and issues related to prejudice and stereotypes including explicit v. implicit bias.https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_bloom_can_prejudice_ever_be_a_good_thing

Other Books by Paul BloomBloom, P. (2010). How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like. New York: W.W. Norton Company.Bloom, P. (2018). Against Empathy, The Case for Rational Compassion. New York: Harper Collins.

Book DescriptionPsych Experiments, the much-anticipated book by psychologist Michael Britt, known to psychology teachers everywhere as the host of the Psych Files podcast is an excellent source for experiments that can be used in the classroom or as student projects. The Psych Files is best known to students and teachers for the animated videos designed to help students memorize the parts of the brain. The book contains 50 different experiments that are all based on psychological research. The experiments range from classic studies to more current research. The book opens with general advice for conducting psychological research including information about replication, ethics, participant rights, and statistics. Each of the 50 studies includes background information, related psychological concepts, a summary of how the original research was conducted, and step-by-step instructions for replicating either the original research design or a modified version. Before replicating any of the studies listed in the book students should review the ethical guidelines in the early chapters.

One of the experiments Britt discusses is the famous examination of the misinformation effect by Elizabeth F. Loftus and John C. Palmer (1974). After describing the original study and discussing the significance of the results for illustrating the fallibility of memory students can use Britt’s outline for exactly how to replicate this research in the classroom. The book includes step-by-step instructions. The author recommends having a sensitivity to students who may not wish to participate possibly as a result of personal experiences with car accidents. An additional activity related to the Loftus and Palmer research on memory can be found in the “Open Your Class with this” activity posted with this book review. This activity is designed to demonstrate the fallibility of memory using virtual reality technology. An excellent way to close out this lesson/research experiment would be to show Elizabeth Loftus’s TED talk titled “How Reliable is Your Memory.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLYY77LPr3U.

Many of the experiments created by Michael Britt for this book would work well as class demonstrations or student-directed research projects for science fair competitions. Students can view the examples of direct replications and unique variations of classic psychology experiments to help them develop ideas for their own original research. Some of the ideas in the book that are easily adapted for classroom use are:

Cognition (Memory, Thinking, and Problem Solving)How You Are Manipulated Into Paying More Money Than You Wanted: I Bet You Expected to Pay Thousands For This! - Anchoring BiasBased on research by Dan Ariely, George Loewenstein, and Drazen Prelec (2003)

Mental Sets Can Limit You Into One Way of Thinking: How to GetUnstuck – Mental SetBased on research by Abraham S. Luchins (1946)

Why Do You Remember Certain Things: That’s Deep, Man – Levels of ProcessingBased on research by Fergus I. M. Craik and Endel Tulving

Learning/ConditioningWhen Trying Really Hard Makes No Difference: I Give Up! – Learned HelplessnessBased on research by Martin Seligman and Steven Maier (1967)Replication/extension research by Steven Maier and Martin Seligman (2016)

Motivation and EmotionNoticing a Face in the Crowd: I Never Forget a Face – Identifying EmotionsBased on research by Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen (1971)Replication/extension research by Christine Hansen and Ranald D. Hansen (1988)

How Psychiatric Labels Affect How We Se People: Sticks and Stones May Not Break My Bones, but Labels May Incarcerate Me – Labeling and Mental IllnessBased on research by David L. Rosenhan (1974)Replication/extension research by Darcy Haag Granello and Todd A. Gibbs (2016)

Social PsychologyHow Roles Can Affect Us at a Deep Level: Are You the Role You Play?- Social RolesBased on research by Craig W. Haney, W. Curtis Banks, and Philip G. Zimbardo (1973)Replication/extension research by Stephen Reicher and Alexander Haslam (2006)How Anonymity Can Make Us Mean: “That is the Stupidest Thing You Ever Said!” – DeindividuationBased on research by Philip Zimbardo (1969)

The Power of Conformity: How Much Would You Pay for That Cornflake? – ConformityBased on research by Solomon Asch (1952)

When Trying to Look Good Looks Bad: My What Big Words You Have! – InfluenceBased on research by Daniel Oppenheimer (2006)

Where Discrimination Begins: Those People are All the Same! – Prejudice and DiscriminationBased on research by Muzafer Sherif (1954)Replication/extension research by Henri Tajfel (1970)

Michael Britt’s book, Psych Experiments contains many more that could be used by student both inside and outside of class, and that can serve as inspiration for additional student-directed research.

Other Related Resources

Author’s Websitehttp://www.thepsychfiles.com/Michael Britt’s website includes psychology resources for review and years of excellent podcasts organized by unit. Some of the most popular podcasts include:

​Book DescriptionWilliam Alexander loves everything French: French croissants, the aesthetic of the country, vacations on a bicycle traveling between small villages, and the beautiful sound of the language. He is determined to master the French language and become a Francophile in earnest. While Alexander wants to learn French, he still has trepidation from the memories of his high school French teacher Madame D. He dropped the course after his sophomore year and made it through college choosing majors for which he did not need a foreign language to graduate. After he graduated, he took a trip backpacking across Europe with France as the last country he visited. While he did not know the language fluently, he thought he could get by with the French he had learned in high school. He saved money for the entire trip to go to one fancy French restaurant to end the trip in style. He ordered rogons de veau for two, thinking he had just ordered a nice cut of veal. He and his companion could afford nothing else, so they waited for the meal only to receive two small kidneys with no garnish or accouterments… so much for his high school French.

In his mid-fifties, Alexander attends a linguistics conference only to be told that he was essentially too old to learn French like a native speaker. Presenter after presenter emphasized the advantage that younger children had over adults for acquiring a new language. It seems that Alexander’s critical period for language had long since passed. Still, he was determined to fight biology and become fluent in the language he so adored.

In a study with Russian and French babies, just ninety-six hours after birth both sets of babies showed a preference for their native language over others. All languages have different cadences to which babies adapt quite early. Italian has many i and o sounds, French can be distinguished by its nasal vowels, and Scandinavian languages contain hard g sounds. Babies even cry in phonemes (the smallest unit of sound in a language) consistent with their native language. If not exposed early to these different sounds contained in language, adults often have a difficult time adjusting to the new sounds present in the language they are trying to acquire. For example, many Asian speakers who learned English as adults cannot make the “r” and “l” sounds in English or differentiate between those two sounds. Researchers found that seven-month-old Japanese babies can distinguish between “r” and “l” sounds but by ten months of age they cannot.

Alexander cites Noam Chomsky’s Syntactic Structures book for moving the study of language from vocabulary to syntax. Chomsky proposed that language could not be explained solely by mimicking others because adults do not say things like “Tommy hitted me”, but nearly all children do. In this case, children are overgeneralizing the past tense of hit (which is still hit) and applying the rule more broadly than it should be applied. Nearly all children demonstrate these types of errors as they work their way through language. Chomsky believes that children are innately wired to learn language through what he described as a language acquisition device. This common innate ability to understand the basic rules of language is known as universal grammar. In a study conducted by Elissa Newport and Jenny Singleton, deaf children who were not exposed to proper syntax, still intuitively used American Sign Language correctly which seems to support Chomsky’s view. However, cases such as Genie who was found in Los Angeles, California as a teenager and who had never been exposed to language further complicate the issue. While Genie initially learned two-word strings quite quickly, she never acquired the ability to produce a negative question or ask a question. She remained in the stage of speech typical of a toddler. While we may have an innate ability to learn a language, Eric Lennenberg extended Chomsky’s theory by suggesting that there may be a critical period before the teenage years in which language is most easily acquired. Genie is a single case study that cannot be generalized to the entire population and she may have been intellectually disabled from birth, but similar case studies seem to point to the same conclusion.

Biological evidence now exists that those exposed to multiple languages early in life have more brain area devoted to language. Once neural pruning begins in adolescence, removing those neural networks that are not useful may make those that remain more efficient, we may lose the ability to rewire our brain to be more focused on language. This lends biological support to Chomsky’s belief in the inborn nature of language.

Alexander cites many examples of the intermingling of languages during a foreign invasion or language diffusion by more peaceful means, many of which remain today. In English courts, individuals are told to “cease and desist,” which essentially are synonyms and the phrase is redundant, but this combination harkens back to when the Normans (temporarily) made French the official language of England. The cease is English but the word desist comes from the French verb desister. The word mortgage in English is derived from the French: death contract”, which many who have experienced foreclosure may relate. Curfew comes from the French term couvre-feu which was the time that people had to cover their fire.

Alexander laments the quirks to the French language, such as their lack of numbers beyond sixty, for which one has to add to even say the number, for example, seventy is “sixty-ten” (soixante-dix), and seventy-nine is “sixty plus ten plus nine” (soixante-dix-neuf). Temps can refer to either weather or time. In other difficulties in learning the French language, Alexander cites the gender which must be memorized for each object and impacts the meaning of the sentence when used incorrectly. Especially for English speakers who are not accustomed to objects having gender’s this can be quite a challenge. French idioms while humorous in English do not always translate well. For example, the French counterpart to the English idiom “It costs and arm and a leg in English” is “it costs the skin of an ass”.

The French take their language very seriously and have established the Academie Francaise to publish an official dictionary of the French language in an effort to keep the language “pure” and free from too much foreign influence. Of course, they have had to make some changes to keep up with modern times, “wifi” and “podcasts” have made their way into the French language and appear much as they do in other languages. Others foreign words such as “le jogging”, “les cheesburgers” and “le weekend” have grown common in the French language much to the dismay of the l’Academie.

Despite the linguists warning that it would be difficult to learn language during middle age, Alexander forges ahead, tackling Rosetta Stone, finding a French pen pal (Sophie) who will write to him in English while he responds in French. Alexander finds a Meetup.com group and takes an immersion weekend class in New York. For his final push, he enrolls in a two-week immersion class at the esteemed Millefeuille Provence in southern France. It is said that once one becomes fluent in a given language, they no longer have to translate the meaning in their original language, so they are essentially “thinking in their new language.” Sadly, the linguists might be right. Alexander is never fully able to understand and speak in French although he does improve considerably during the course of the book. He is generally able to understand his instructors and get the idea of what the speaker is discussing (receptive speech), but finds that outside the controlled environment of the classroom or Rosetta stone; real day-to-day French is difficult to follow and even more difficult to speak (productive speech).

Book DescriptionThe Defining Decade: Why your twenties matter and how to make the most of them is an insightful and research based examination of how the decisions one makes during their twenties have enormous impact on happiness and success later in life. The author, Meg Jay, PhD is a clinical psychologist with a private practice and a University of Virginia professor. The book is a mix of development, personality, and neuroscience research related to early adulthood. The book addresses how the important choices individuals make regarding careers and friendships during their twenties can have long-term ramifications. Although the book is written for individuals in their twenties, it can certainly helpful for high school students. The book opens with a quote from linguist Noam Chomsky, “Almost invariably, growth and development has what’s called a critical period. There’s a particular period of maturation in which, with external stimulation of the appropriate kind, the capacity will pretty suddenly develop and mature. Before that and later than that, it’s either harder or impossible.” Dr. Jay considers one’s twenties an example of a developmental critical period because eighty percent of the events which define one’s life (careers, relationships, education, parenthood, etc.) occur before the age of thirty-five. This book encourages twentysomethings to think seriously about the decisions they are making or putting off. Research shows that during one’s twenties most of a person’s lifetime wage growth occurs which makes thinking critically about one’s career during this decade vital. It is during this critical period that career paths are determined and decisions regarding marriage and family are often made. This period is biologically defined by the final stage of brain growth in the development of the prefrontal cortex, which contributes to the importance of this time period. Much of the book focuses on paths to career development during one’s twenties such as developing identity capital and utilizing weak ties. Identity capital, a term used by sociologists, refers to the outcome of the investments individuals make in themselves which can be used like currency to advance careers and find healthy relationships. Identity capital includes education, work experiences, and specific achievements, but it also involves appearance, who we know, interests, and personality traits. These collective experiences, traits, and achievements determine what we have to offer in the career marketplace and should be carefully considered during one’s twenties because about two-thirds of lifetime wage growth occurs during the first ten years of a career. The book also encourages individuals in their twenties to utilize weak ties, a term coined by Stanford professor Mark Granovetter as a result of his research into social networks (decades before online social media). Granovetter found that close friends and family were not the individuals who proved most helpful in job searches and career advancement. Surprisingly, more than three-quarters of new jobs or major advances in career development were the result of contacts that individuals saw only rarely. Weak ties include classmates and coworkers you do not know well, friends of parents, or former acquaintances. One’s closest ties consist of individuals who are most likely very similar to us and thus unlikely to be able to provide new and different opportunities. Weak ties conversely are more likely to be individuals we do not know very well (or at all) and are very different from us which can generate truly unique opportunities. According to Dr. Jay, “Claiming your twenties is one of the simplest yet most transformative things you can do for work, for love, for your happiness, maybe even for the world.” The Defining Decade provides evidence from numerous research studies to provide insights which will help individuals in their twenties make the best possible decisions for future happiness and success in many aspects of their lives including the following. · Career success takes time: according to research by K. Anders Ericsson this means 10,000 hours (this is also covered in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers). Twenty-something individuals should be reminded that it might take about five years of full-time work in their new career before they develop mastery and full confidence. · Personality changes more in one’s twenties than at any other time. The twenties represent the final period of development for the frontal lobe and behaviors and personality patterns become hardwired for adulthood. This is the time to change what you want to about yourself. · Romantic relationships are important and the adage that “you cannot choose your family but you can choose your friends” is incorrect because it is during ones twenties that you in fact do choose a family. According to Dr. Jay, “The best time to work on your marriage is before you have one.” Invest the same amount of attention and planning in your romantic relationships as you do for your career because decisions in this area have dramatic and long-term impact on your personal happiness and life satisfaction.Other Related Resources Meg Jay, Ph.D. – TED Talk Dr. Jay’s 2013 TED talk “Why 30 Is Not the New 20″ which has been viewed more than 2 million times. http://www.ted.com/talks/meg_jay_why_30_is_not_the_new_20.html NPR Podcast This seven minute podcast from Chicago Public radio includes a short interview with author Dr. Jay and impromptu conversations of twentysomethings on the campus of George Washington University. http://www.npr.org/2012/04/22/150429128/our-roaring-20s-the-defining-decade The Year 25 Series NPR created a series of interviews called the Year 25 series in which they interviewed several famous individuals about what was happening in their lives when they were twenty five. http://www.wbez.org/series/year-25 Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at age 25 from the Year 25 Series.http://www.wbez.org/series/year-25/who-was-25-year-old-rahm-emanuel-108327

Book Description Psychologist Harry Harlow challenged the notions of the 1950s regarding parenting and the power of attachment and love. From his humble beginnings as a bright yet odd child in Iowa, Harry found himself in disagreement over the zeitgeist of the field of Psychology early in his career. Famous psychologists such as John Watson in his book Children and Child Care promoted a parenting style, which strictly forbade the hugging and kissing of young children. Other Behaviorists agreed with this approach and parents who doted on their children were often accused on making their children “soft”. The events of WWII in London forced the evacuation of many children to the English countryside, placing them away from parents or caretakers. The results of this forcible removal suggested that children could be well provided for in terms of food and basic necessities, but a lack of parental love caused children to suffer both emotionally and developmentally. Investigations into “fostering homes” or orphanages (which were widespread during WWII) led to the same conclusion. Harlow was determined to challenge traditional notions on parenting and tested the importance of love and attachment. Harlow also wanted to test animals more like humans and get away from the Behaviorist habit of working only with rats. He conducted his research at the University of Wisconsin by providing young monkeys with artificial mothers. The title of the book Love at Goon Park refers to Harlow studies of attachment and love and the address of the psychology building at the University of Wisconsin (600 N. Park Street) to which packages often appeared to be headed for “GOON Park”. Harlow demonstrated that “contact comfort” was more important than providing food to the young monkey as it helped to forge a strong bond between infant and mother. These monkey’s spent nearly all of their time with the “cloth” mother regardless of whether or not food was provided. They only went to the “wire” mother for food and quickly returned to the “cloth” mother. Those monkeys not provided any type of mother figure were unable to develop a strong attachment to a mother figure later in life and often became aggressive towards other monkeys. Harlow was far ahead of his time and his findings are supported by modern research (See the book review of How Children Succeed: Paul Tough) regarding the importance of attachment. Harlow faced challenges in his own personal life, he was married three times and his first and third wife Clara (whom he married again after the death of his second wife) was a participant in the famous “termite” study in which Lewis Terman longitudinally studied gifted children. Harlow himself was not a very involved parent and spent nearly all of his time at the lab. He drank too much and ultimately succumbed to Parkinson’s disease. The book discusses the shift from Behaviorism to a more Social Cognitive approach and discusses in detail to power and importance of attachment. In addition, his other research regarding isolation and community supports as well I.Q. tests with primates are detailed in the book. Harlow’s connection to other notable psychologists is fascinating, he studied under Lewis Terman at Stanford and mentored a young Abraham Maslow at Wisconsin, in addition to countless others. Other Related Resources Book Websitehttp://deborahblum.com/Love_at_Goon_Park.htmlThis American Life: Episode 317, Unconditional Love This episode addresses the importance of attachment and the challenges families can face when attachment is not established at an early age.http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/317/unconditional-loveConquest Clip of Harlow’s Monkey This clip shows Harlow’s lab and his original studies of monkeys.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O60TYAIgC4PBS: A Science Odysseyhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhharl.html

Authors

Laura Brandt, Nancy Fenton, and Jessica Flitter are AP Psychology instructors. Nancy Fenton teaches at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, Laura Brandt teaches at the College Du Leman in Geneva, Switzerland and Jessica Flitter teachers at West Bend East High School in West Bend, Wisconsin.If you are interested in reviewing a book for the blog or have comments or questions, please e-mail us at either laurabrandt85@gmail.com or nfenton@d125.org or jflitter1@gmail.com.